Back to school or not?

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

<b>mod cow</b>
Hi everybody!

I have been thinking a lot about this problem lately.
A few months ago I quit college, where I did Mechanical Engineering.
The education at the school I followed it was way too low, and the contents of the program were terrible.
Because school starts again in September, I started to work for the time being.

Now I have second doubts about getting back to school again....there are a few options I have been considering:

- Back to school, and start another program, preferably Business Administration
- Get a decent job somewhere (least favourite option)
- Start a own company in webdesign


I was curious to the ideas of the people around here. On one hand I want to go back to school, so I can get a decent job, with a fine salary. But on the other hand, I really don't want to spend another 4 ~ 5 years at school again....I'm absolutely not sure about what would be the right decision.
Maybe some of you have some ideas?
 
If you've already begun an engineering program, why not transfer your credits to a better school and finish what you started? Unless you aren't interested in that field anymore, this would be the most sensible, I would think.

There are thousands of people that want to design webpages on the web. You will find that it's not that easy to get people interested in paying you for webdesign. This would be a short term career at best. The internet is rapidly changing. In order to be a good webmaster, you also have to be a good webprogrammer that can keep up with the newest thing to come along. I can't see this being a lucrative career unless you have connections with people who are in business that want you to do their sites.

A career in business is good, but it probably wont make the kind of money an engineer would unless you are really good at it.
 
Hard labor makes a man. Educated labor makes a man wealthy. Entrepreneurship makes a man rich or poor, depending on his work habits. :biker:
 
Shadowfax, do you have any degree yet? If not, I would at least work towards a 2-year degree. I somewhat regret not doing that years ago. I quit college for a bit, said I'd go back, never did.

Why can't you work and go to school at the same time? Or if you can afford it, go to school and get an internship with a web design firm to see if you would really want to do that permanently. Everyone wants free labor these days-you could get some experience while you're at it.

Whatever you decide, good luck to you!
 
Thanks for the input here :)

I'm seriously considering s4's advice....maybe I should go back doing mechanical engineering at an other school.
When I have my degree then, within 2.5 yrs, I can start working at a company trying to make my way up into the organisation. I'm sure that I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life designing and improving machinery and stuff like that. I'm really the kind of guy who wants to be involved in the organisation of a company. I fairly enjoy doing so :)
I wanted to achieve that goal by starting business administration, but markets for those kind of people aren't so well at the moment around here. Having a degree in mechanical engineering, I would create an opportunity to reach my goal. But I would most certainly be able to get a job as a constructor if I couldn't get into the organisation :)

It are tough choices to make, I can tell you :( I'm giving a lot of thoughts to this, and I hope I will make the right decision in the end...

Thanks again for the input, especially s4. That really made me start thinking about returning to mechanical engineering. At least I'm regaining a bit of the enthusiasm I had for this working field when I first started it :)
 
It all depends on what it is you want. I myself just started going back to school after a 3 year vacation :p
Remember A degree does not always mean a high paying job. Depends on what you get in in i guess.
Do what you enjoy.
 
I hate to disagree with you all, but, why did you quit? If it is because of the work, then you don't even want to be there in the first place, right?

You have to remember that you might very well be doing this for the rest of your life. If you consider it "work" now and not "fun" then you might want to consider doing something else.

I'm not saying don't go back to school, because school is what lets you do what you want. I'm saying figure out what you like and go back to school for that. Don't be sad that you might be throwing some MechE credits away, be happy that you made the decision early to do something you enjoy more.

If you like computers you might want to do Computer Science and write Operating Systems or Electrical Engineering and build processors!
 
warhorse ~ the reason I quit ME in the first place was because of the horrible organisation at my school. When I started the program I had no idea that they would start an entire new program. They hadn't told me that when I visited the school the first time...
The new program they started was very different from the old program.
So in the past 1.5 yrs they completely ruined my interest in ME by giving me lessons I didn't want and lessons I really wouldn't need.

At a certain point the combination of bad education and even more worse organisation made me quit ME at all. At this point I don't really know if I just don't like this particular school, or that I don't like the working field at all.
Sounds kinda weird maybe, but that's the way it is at the moment. When I would start following ME again, I would certainly go to another school, but I wouldn't know for certain whether I regain my enthusiasm for ME again.
Starting ME again would be a wild guess, with the possibility that I lose another year...I'm not so certain if that's worth it.

Like I said before, it's a tough decision for me :)
 
As someone who's been through a lot of school, I say stick with it. It's true, most of the classes you'll have to take are a waste of time, and sometimes it feels like you know more than the professer ... but that's how this world works. You need that little piece of paper that says you earned a degree.
 
I guess you're right. The classes really have a lot to do with your motivation even if the subject would normally be interesting. I'm doing a robotics minor to complement my computer science major, but the controls course I just took was so horribly done that I really don't know if I like it anymore. I'm hoping further classes will renew my enthusiasm... I hope :)
 
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